Page 60 of The Sun God's Prize
I’m turning to wake Sheelan, to ask her to help me, when my door opens.
And Hallick enters, unwelcome.Not that he gives a shit, or even seems to realize I couldn’t care less what his problem is, because he’s already talking before the door is once more firmly closed.
“I need your help, daughter of war,” he says.
I bark a laugh, because this is too much, especially now.“Fuck you,” I say.
He doesn’t respond to that obvious reply, beginning to pace, his cloying scent reaching me and reminding me where this all began.And who is responsible.“I had hoped to stall the Sun God,” he says, “but it’s clear now that we’re out of time.Unless we act.”
“Whose fault is that?”His, of course.I tsk, dealing with him not on my agenda for the moment.“What are you talking about?”I don’t glance at the bed.I will not draw attention to Sheelan.But there’s no way she’s still sleeping, he’s too loud.Hopefully, she’ll stay hidden and keep quiet long enough for me to get him out of here.
“They’re planning an invasion, you stupid cow.”He snarls at me, lowering his voice to a hiss, hands clawing in front of him.
I glare back, dead cold, closing the distance so fast he’s scrambling to retreat, his back slamming into one of the archway pillars to the garden, dark eyes wide and terrified.
He has no idea that the black-clad warrior is bare inches from him, staring at me from her defensive position, and hears everything that follows.
“Say that again,” I tell him, soft and threatening.“Just the same way.”I fucking dare you.
I fuckingdareyou.
“Like it or not,” he says, jerking himself under control, even if I can still feel him trembling from the mere inch between us, “we’re in this together, Remalla.”He’s dropped the princess part, far too familiar, but I don’t correct him.
“I’m sure you like to think so,” I say.
“You don’t understand,” he says, still quietly.“Heknows.”Hallick licks his lips, his stench overpowering at this distance.The man who loves to intimidate, to manipulate, who I expect is behind much of what ails the Overkingdom, has lost his propriety, if not his motivation.“About themagic.”He whispers the last word, waiting for me to be shocked.
“What, gold Neem’s magic you fuckers stole from her when you killed her and corrupted to rewrite the entire history of the kingdom?”I tilt my head at him, watch him absorb how much I know with grim acceptance and grudging admiration.“Or that you’ve tainted the Sun God and his heir with that same poisoned magic of a dead dragon?”
I see the dark warrior flinch, the barest movement, but that’s all as Hallick goes on.
“Drakonkin heir,” he says, though it sounds like an accusation.“Daughter of Heald, you stand in two worlds, and both are under threat if we don’t act.”
I take one step backward and cross my arms over my chest.“Go on,” I say.If nothing else, maybe he’ll finally tell me the rest of the truth he began to in the cell beneath the Citadel.At the very least, he’s signing his own death warrant because the order warrior who watches us will act in her Sun God’s best interest and take what she hears to hermasterre.
I won’t get to kill Hallick personally, but it will do.
The Chancellor’s tense stance unwinds slightly, though he’s still nervous despite his height advantage.I’m sure he has a weapon of some sort under that black robe of his, aside from the dick he seems to wield against Vae and Vivenne—and who else, for surely there are many.A dick that I’ll tear from his body before I let it touch Sheelan.But he hasn’t tried to use a blade of another kind on me, no dagger held out for protection, just shaking hands pushing back his slick, black hair, pale skin ashen.
“Everything we’ve done,” he snarls, “has been for the good of the Overkingdom.”Liar, but I let him go on.“We’ve been trying for years to force the magic to spread, to protect our lands from the threat of the south.”A south we’ve been at peace with, as far as I know, not even mentioned in Mother and Vivenne’s wintertime imagined battles, the border ignored as they sparred their fantasy wars to overtake the entire north.“But he has ways to block us.”The Sun God does?“That’s why I’ve come, to find the source of his power and undermine it.”
Wait, he thinks the Sun God controls the barrier to the diseased magic.He doesn’t know about the other dragon.Why does that truth send shivers of relief through me?Perhaps because, for once, I know more than he does?No, nothing so petty.
If he goes near her egg, I’ll do more than kill him.I swear, he’ll wish himself dead many times over before the dark takes him.
“You’re asking me to be sympathetic to your failed invasion plans,” I say.“You do know how insane that sounds?”
“Why do you think we did this?”He tosses his hands, seems to realize how close he comes to striking me, and retreats, calms himself a little.“The Sun God is going to ride to the headland, take Winderose, and steal Neem’s magic for himself.And without your mother, with only what remains of Vivenne,” his disgust can’t be disguised, “to lead the forces of Heald, the massive armies of the Sun God will devour us, and all will be lost.He will be free to rewrite the history of our world to his own pleasure.And none will stand against him.”
This is an old story, then.Far more to it than was suggested before.I used the term “our” when I accused him of manipulation, but it’s more than that, the collective pronoun far more intimate.“You were part of the plan to kill Neem,” I say.
Hallick nods, jaw tight.“It was my idea,” he said.
***
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The fuck it was.
